Our first day in Vancouver! (15th August 2015)

Well we arrived into Vancouver Airport at 13.40 yesterday afternoon after a 9 hour flight from Birmingham. We had an early start as we caught the 6 am Birmingham-Amsterdam flight first (😱)

so we were a little tired (read knackered)

We caught the free shuttle bus to our hotel which was all easy and very straightforward. After a brief visit to Tim Hortons to catch a bite to eat  - 🍔☕️-we conked out! Jetlag 😳😳😳😳😳

At 2am we were awake...so a cup of coffee and a muffin later we attempted to get a little more sleep! 

After a quick breakfast we decided to catch the Skytrain downtown and go to Granville Island market. As the hotel we are staying at is close to Bridgeport Skytrain station (which is on the Canada line)we had a 5 min walk only. Ideal and highly recommended!

 We decided to buy day passes for the Skytrain which cost $9.50 each but give unlimited travel. I would highly recommend doing this as it is cost effective and reduces pfaff time!!

The train only took about 20 mins to Yaletown Roundhouse where we got off and walked down to catch an Aquabus to Granville Island.

Anyway less writing more pics!!! This is what fab produce you can buy in this market!!!! (Not Doug though)

We had a walk around the island and saw some very interesting things!!!!

These are amazing and part of an urban art project!

We also came across a floating village! These houses were amazing and such a contrast to the glass buildings behind. Apparently they cost between $3000 and $5000 a month each to rent. They are on a floating platform which list with the tide! So neat!!!!

As you can tell i rather liked these!!!!

After our visit to Granville Island we caught the aquabus back to Yaletown. Doug had spotted a train situated in a community centre! A Canadian Pacific Loco which is being preserved by volunteers. 

We then decided to head downtown to waterfront and walk along to Gastown. Gastown is named after Gassy Jack Deighton a riverboat captain who built Vancouver's first significant structure (a bar !!!) in 1867. He was nicknamed gassy as he talked a lot....nothing wrong with that I say!!!

We passed the steam clock on the corner of Water and Cambie streets. A perfect photo opportunity for every tourist in Vancouver including us!!! It gives a steamy rendition of the Westminister chimes every 15 minutes!!

Enjoying a drink in Gastown!

Me and a cuddly mountie!!! And dont i look jetlagged!!!!! Lol

Our last day! A homage to Sex and the City!

Last day!!! Airport by 5.30 pm and flight to London at 8pm...so what to do on our last day! 

A Sex and the City tour of course! Bags packed, checked out and bags left with the concierge...car picking us up at 3.45....

We walked to our usual breakfast spot! Then onto The Plaza Hotel (thinking of Friends at this point) to pick up our trip. I had paid a little extra (£6 each to have VIP seating at the front of the coach and it was worth it). Our guide was an actress called Sarah originally from the UK but now married and settled in NY. We had a fantastic time - little snippets from the show as we drove to the next location put everything on context. 

One of the highlights of this tour is that it took us to areas we had not explored - the Meatpacking  Distrct and Greenwich/West Village were fab! We had a wander around Greenwich/West Village where Sarah Jessica Parker actually lives (yes we saw her house!) and were desperately trying to spot any stars wandering around - apparently they actually LEAVE their houses and go shopping and to restaurants and stuff?!????

NOT SJP's house but near it!! The owners came out and took our photo - must be annoying 30 tourists standing outside your house every day taking pics just because it was in SATC a long time ago!!!

We did see the start of the High Line - something we didn't get time to do but definately on my list if i am lucky enough to get back to NY at some point! (The High Line is a public park built on an old freight line elevated above the streets on Manhatten's West Side and sounds awesome!)

A cupcake from the Magnolia Bakery compulsory!!

Some other lovely shops in the area!!

Lol!!! ....

We had a brilliant tour and were dropped off at Bryant Park a short walk to the hotel. We stopped off for a slice of pizza (huge) and then back to the hotel for our bags. The transfer to the airport was great - very interesting taxi driver from Guyana who pointed out places of interest in Queens (the airport is in the borough of Queens). The airport was heaving and it took an age to clear security but the flight was called on time and off we went! A lovely flight with Virgin Atlantic - i have never had so much leg room!! It takes just over 6 hours back and we landed at Heathrow just after 7 am the next morning!

So that was our trip to NYC! We loved it!! Thanks for reading!

A lovely day out - our trip to Washington DC!

An early start! Luckily the meeting point to pick up our trip to Washington was 2 minutes from the Hotel on 8th Avenue. We had booked the trip through Viator and though we knew it would be a long trip (15 hours in the end) we were excited!!! Our guide for the day was Victoria who was brilliant - she spoke 4 languages and had two groups (English speakers and French speakers to explain everything to!) at the other end of the coach was another guide for the Spanish speakers!

The journey was long (4 hours) but we stopped off at a service station in Delaware to get breakfast and have a loo break. 

We crossed a big river...

And drove past Baltimore which we were told was the most dangerous city in North America.

Eventully we reached Washington and crossed into Virginia for a quick gander at the Pentagon before parking up at the Vietnam war memorial.

The Pentagon

The Vietnam War Memorial is located north of the Lincoln Memorial. It includes the names of over 58,000 servicemen and women who died during the conflict. 

The Lincoln Memorial was our next stop and it is located on the western end of the National Mall with the Senate at the opposite end and the Washington Monument inbetween.

It is pretty amazing!!!! 

The Korean War memorial is a short walk away

We then hopped back onto the coach to go and see President Obama who was at home that day!!

The White House is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and there is a park in front of it so we were able to walk up quite close....its tiny...really.... Apparently everyone says that...thats because it is...tiny!

We then went to the Smithsonian Museum of aviation!!! You know the one in A Night at the Museum!!!! We had a good wander around and then had lunch before sitting outside and enjoying some welcome warmth from the sunshine! It was 22 degrees in Washington!!!! And a lot of blossom was opening on the trees! Pretty!

Not the most attractive of buildings!!! But the one opposite was!!

Unfortunately Capitol Hill was covered in scaffolding - very inconvenient for us tourists!!! 

After this final stop off it was time for the long 4 hour coach trip back to NYC but we had a fantastic day. Washington DC is worth a visit and I would highly recommend this trip. We travelled through 6 states - New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia!!! We loved our time in NY but the contrast of Washington was simply amazing. And we have seen the White House!!!!!!